The female anchor turned into the dean of an ancient academy

Chapter 269 Investigating Concubine Shu

Yu Lan obeyed the order and left, while Cen Jiexiao fell into deep thought. She understood that Concubine Shu was a close confidant of Empress Dowager Li, and touching her would be tantamount to challenging her authority. However, if she let her go, it would be a clear concession, and her situation would only become more difficult in the future. After much deliberation, Cen Jiexiao decided to start with Cui'er, then gradually dismantle Concubine Shu's power within the palace, and finally give Empress Dowager Li a warning.

In the next few days, Yu Lan disguised herself as a maid who cleaned the palace and went around gathering information.

She pretended to chat with other palace maids to get information about Cui'er. Soon, she found that Cui'er was very unpopular in the palace. She relied on her position as the personal maid of Concubine Shu to be arrogant and domineering, bullying the weak, and many palace maids dared not speak out against her.

"Cui'er is a very vicious girl! A few days ago, a little palace maid accidentally knocked over Concubine Shu's tea. Cui'er insisted that it was done on purpose and beat the little palace maid half to death." An old palace maid whispered to Yu Lan.

"That's right. She often accepts money and helps people with things. Which of those new palace maids has not been blackmailed by her?" Another palace maid echoed.

Yu Lan recorded the intelligence she gathered and secretly sought out several palace maids who had been bullied by Cui Er, using them as witnesses. She also discovered that Cui Er was secretly associated with a merchant outside the palace, seemingly conducting some illicit business. This was undoubtedly a crucial clue, and Yu Lan decided to investigate further. She followed Cui Er and discovered that she frequently sneaked out of the palace to meet with the merchant at a secluded teahouse outside the city.

Yu Lan disguised herself as a tea drinker and overheard their conversation, and found out that Cui Er was actually helping the merchant smuggle treasures from the palace!

Yu Lan is worthy of being the teacher who trains the Qiming Group. She inquires about information and collects evidence, just like weaving a big net that covers Cui'er's every move.

On the first day, she discovered that Cui'er was meeting privately with a mysterious man outside the palace, and they seemed to be conducting some kind of transaction.

The next day, she followed Cui'er to the warehouse and saw with her own eyes that Cui'er stole some precious medicinal herbs.

On the third day, she learned from the young palace maid that Cui'er often bullied other palace maids and even withheld their monthly salary.

On the fourth day, she discovered that Cui'er had secretly hidden a letter, the content of which hinted that she had a secret connection with a high-ranking concubine in the palace.

Day ...

Day six...

There were new discoveries every day. Yu Lan recorded this information one by one in the spy record, forming a thick stack of evidence.

A week later, Yu Lan handed the file to Cen Jiexiao. Cen Jiexiao carefully read it, her expression changing from surprise to anger, then to a sneer. Finally, she closed the file, a sharp look in her eyes.

"Dean, the evidence is all here. What should we do next?" Yu Lan asked.

Cen Jiexiao's eyes rolled as she came up with a plan: "Since Cui'er likes playing dirty so much, then we should play with her! Xiaozhi, you go..."

Sister Cen called Xiaozhi over and whispered a few instructions. Xiaozhi's eyes lit up, and he nodded excitedly and ran out. Yu Lan looked at Xiaozhi's back as she left and asked in confusion, "Miss, what did you ask Xiaozhi to do?"

Cen Jiexiao smiled mysteriously and said, "The secret cannot be revealed! Just wait and see!"

At night, the moon was dark and the wind was strong, it was the perfect night for murder... No, it was a good deed! Xiaozhi disguised herself as an ordinary palace maid and sneaked into Concubine Shu's bedroom...

The palace walls were completely silent, with only the occasional soft footsteps of patrolling guards. Xiaozhi, dressed in night clothes, nimbly avoided the patrolling guards and, like a nimble civet cat, quietly sneaked into Concubine Shu's bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, the dim lights illuminated the luxurious furnishings, and the air was filled with a faint fragrance. Xiaozhi held her breath and carefully observed her surroundings. After making sure that no one else was around, she pulled a small cloth bag from her sleeve.

The cloth bag contained phosphorus powder that Cen Jiexiao had specially prepared for her. This was a special material from modern times that emitted a faint green light in the dark, like a will-o'-the-wisp, enough to scare away the timid. Xiaozhi smiled slyly, thinking to herself: "My Lady, tonight I will let you experience the feeling of being haunted!"

She carefully opened the cloth bag and evenly smeared the phosphorus powder on Concubine Shu's bed curtains, walls, screens, etc. As the phosphorus powder was applied, patches of strange green light gradually appeared in the bedroom, flickering, like a ghost floating in the darkness.

After doing all this, Xiaozhi imitated the cat's cry, making a series of shrill "meow" sounds. This sound was particularly creepy in the silent night, like a call from hell, making people shudder.

Concubine Shu was a timid woman, and was most afraid of ghosts and spirits. At this moment, she was lying in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. Suddenly, she saw a strange green light flashing on the bed curtains, and heard the sound of cats meowing in her ears. She was so scared that she let out a piercing scream: "Ah - ghost -"

The scream was like thunder, instantly shattering the tranquility of the night. Upon hearing the noise, the maids and guards in the bedroom rushed over and lit the lights.

"Empress, what's wrong? What happened?" a palace maid asked in panic.

Concubine Shu's face turned pale. She pointed at the bed curtains and said tremblingly, "Ghost... ghost... there is a ghost..."

Everyone looked in the direction of her finger and saw a green light flickering on the bed curtain. The green light flickered and was extremely strange.

"What...what is this?" A palace maid bravely stepped forward to check. She reached out and touched the bed curtain and found a layer of sticky powder on it.

At this moment, Xiaozhi hid in the corner and imitated the cat's meow, which scared everyone into a panic again.

"There really is a ghost!" a palace maid shouted in horror.

"Hurry... hurry and call the guards..." Another palace maid was also frightened and incoherent.

The palace was in chaos, and Xiaozhi took advantage of the confusion to stuff all the evidence of Cui'er's theft of treasures and medicinal herbs, as well as letters of Cui'er's collusion with merchants outside the palace, into Concubine Shu's dressing box. Then, she quietly slipped out of the palace and disappeared into the night.

At dawn, the palace erupted in chaos as rumors of a haunted Concubine Shu's chambers spread. Rumors spread like wildfire, with numerous versions emerging one after another. Some palace maids and eunuchs vividly described green will-o'-the-wisp lights, others swore they had heard the shrill meows of cats, and still others firmly claimed that Concubine Shu had offended the vengeful spirits of the palace and thus suffered retribution.

"Have you heard? The concubine's bedroom is haunted!" A young palace maid said mysteriously to her companions.

"That's right! I heard that the ghost fire is green and dark, and very scary!" another palace maid said, her face pale.

"I heard from Madam Li that Concubine Shu did something wrong, that's why..."

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Don't say that!"

Similar conversations were taking place in every corner of the palace, turning the originally peaceful morning into a panic.